Improvement in treating plants to produce paper-pulp and fiber



PATENT OFFIoE.

JOUANEM DUPONT, OF NIMES, (GARD,) FRANCE.

IMPROVEMENT lN TREATING PLANTS T0 PRODUCE PAPER-PULP AND FIBER.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 130,114, dated August6, 1872.

I, J OUANEM DUPONT, of Niines, (Gard,) in the Republic of France, atpresent residing at Liverpool, England, have discovered and invented theApplication and Treatment of certain Plants not hitherto used for theProduction of Filaments and Fibers, of which the following is aspecification:

My invention consists in means for utilizing the leaves, stems, andflowers of various plants, especially the leaves of the family of plantsknown as Typha, and more particularly Typha latifol'ia, (French,massette, English, bulrush,) so as to obtain therefrom filaments andfibers serviceable for many purposes in the arts. The filaments areobtained, by the treatment which I have perfected, of great length andstrength, and are suitable for the following among other purposes: ropeand cord making, and spinning and weaving into textile fabrics before orafter bleaching, while the shorter.

fibers are well adapted for making paper and card-board.

In nearly every countrythere are large tracts of marshy uncultivatedland, which would answer well for the growth of Typha. latijblia, andplants of the family of Typha, and it has been my endeavor, whileintroducing a new industry, to make these lands productive.

In carrying my invention into practice I proceed under one modificationas follows: After the plants have been cut and dried, and it ispreferred that they should be out immediatelyupon attaining their fullgrowth, they are steeped or macerated in water with lime and sulphur forsix days, more or less, the proportions by weight being five hundredparts water, ninety-five parts qnickliine,

and five parts sulphur. They, the said plants, are next washed andbeaten so as to free them from resinous, gummy, and objectionablematter. The beating maybe effected by rollers, by hand,-or other meansIf it is desired to obtain white silky fibers, they are boiled in analkaline solution, bleached, and finally washed in clean water.

Under another modification I treat the plants immediately after beingcut by steeping or macerating them for from one to six days in water towhich quicklime and sulphur have been added in about the proportionsmentioned above. They are next boiled in the same liquor or in similarclean liquor, afterward passed between pressing-rollers or beaten byhand, and finally washed and dried. It will be obvious that the fibersmay be bleached.

The short fibers, unfit for spinning or like textile purpose, are madeinto paper or cardboard by any suitable or known. process. The

plants may as a whole be reduced to pulp and used in thefabrication ofpaper.

Having now described the nature of my said invention and particularizedthe same in such manner that others will be enabled to reap theadvantages of my improvements at the proper time, I claim Thewithin-described process for reducing to fiber and utilizing family andanalogous material by means of lime and sulphur, substantially as hereinset forth.

JENI. DUPONT.

Witnesses:

J AMES J OHNSON, JOHN LING.

plants of the Typha

